Building on a Foundation

Most of Black history takes place out of the public eye. This history is created by extraordinary people who never receive the recognition they deserve. I am the man I am today because of two of these individuals: my extraordinary parents, Larry and (the late) Vanessa Clayton.

My mom was one of 15 children. Her father was murdered when she was only 3 years old. She grew up desperately poor in an apartment that, at times, had no adult supervision, no heat and no running water. She and her siblings threw “rent parties” to not only make money to pay the rent, but also generate body heat to warm that bitterly cold apartment in Pottstown, Pennsylvania. My mom knew hard times. Harder than most. It gave her the wisdom to guide me through mine. Through it all, she never complained. I’ll never know how she was able to beam her beautiful smile through the hardest of times. I’ll never know how she was able to create a near-utopian home after a childhood devoid of one. But I do know that she loved me as much as a mother can love a son. I know that she gave everything she could conceivably give to be the best mother possible. I know that everything I do in life that is good, kind or virtuous is a direct reflection of her.

My dad worked 16-hour double shifts doing strenuous factory work every day for 10 straight months to afford a down payment on my childhood home so we could move away from the projects where he grew up. When I was a teenager, my dad ran into a house party in a rough part of town to “rescue me” when he heard that there had been a shooting (there hadn’t been). I was humiliated, but I felt loved and protected. My dad also made me work double shifts in that same glass factory so I would appreciate the value of both hard work and a college education and could avoid the hard labor he and my mother endured. My parents made me apply to Harvard College, a school we couldn’t afford, admonishing me: “You worry about your studies. We’ll worry about the costs.” They then depleted their retirement savings to pay my tuition. My parents taught integrity, hard work and wisdom by their words and actions to me, my siblings and our entire community.

I cherish visiting and working from Kirkland’s New York office in the CitiGroup Center in New York City — a building that was fabricated in a factory where my parents worked. It is because of my parents’ love, hard work and many sacrifices that I am able to enjoy a career and life as a partner at Kirkland that I never could have imagined as a child. It’s also why I’m committed to paying it forward through my position on the board of directors for Sponsors for Educational Opportunity (SEO), a nonprofit providing underrepresented students educational and career development opportunities in business and law.

Not a day goes by where I don’t pay tribute to Larry and Vanessa Clayton, who deserve more recognition for the miracles they performed and the obstacles they overcame outside of the limelight.